Word: watchdogs
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...pity to see Bush punished at the polls for his policies over the past few years. I think the U.S. has done the best it could in dealing with a world of escalating dangers created by political extremists and terrorists. Why must the U.S. play global watchdog? Because it is the only nation with the power to do so, it is thereby obligated to. Rogue states and Islamic militants need to be counterbalanced by a big bulldog like the Bush Administration. Paul de Villiers Pietermaritzburg, South Africa I admire a leader like President Bush, who stands up for what...
...answer depends on whom you ask. De Beers and the rest of the diamond trade would say yes. Watchdog groups like Global Witness would say no. Eight years ago, Global Witness produced damning evidence of jewel-related slaughter in several African nations. It caused an international scandal and gave rise to a policing mechanism called the Kimberley Process, which requires diamond-exporting nations to seal their stones in a tamperproof container, with a document stating they were not mined in a war zone. It also requires better data collection from customs agencies...
Since Kimberley was created, the industry says, 99.8% of diamonds are conflict free. Activists say that the situation is better but that diamonds are the cause of continuing misery. Two weeks ago, when Kimberley Process members sat down to their annual plenary meeting in Botswana to discuss how the watchdog system was working, the pressure for tighter oversight had ratcheted up. Responding to a U.N. report that poor controls are allowing conflict diamonds from war-torn Ivory Coast to enter the legitimate trade through neighboring Ghana, where they are being certified as conflict free, the diamond industry agreed not only...
...though, say the W.D.C. was much more proactive at this Kimberley Process meeting than in the past. "I think that the upcoming film must have had an impact on their moves to support calls to strengthen the Kimberley Process," says Susie Sanders, a campaigner with Global Witness, a diamond watchdog group. "We had raised Ivory Coast as a serious issue last year, but the industry reacted to it quite late in the day [and little was resolved]. This year it was very different...
Those aren't their only weapons. The U.N. watchdog report circulated to the Security Council last week says Syria has equipped and trained the ICU military. On July 27, the report says, "200 fighters from the ICU were transported by aircraft to Syria to undergo military training in guerrilla warfare." The report also says a Syrian plane delivered a "large quantity" of arms, including surface-to-air missiles, to the ICU in early September. On at least two occasions, Iran supplied the ICU with arms, including a shipment on July 25 of 1,000 machine guns and grenade launchers...